The Humanoid-Systems Alliance
The Humanoid Systems-Alliance is a fanatically individualistic, militarist, xenophile (as in; they value the life of other societies) and fanatically materialistic direct democracy. Each territory in the alliance is divided into smaller regions, and each location can have slight variations of the rules of life that apply. Direct democracy indicates that people vote directly on most issues, using an advanced computer network. The government consists of a hired group of specialists who try to accommodate the voting of the people, regardless of what anyone says or does, but the ones who propose what to vote on are elected officials. Much as in a typical modern democracy, there is a prime minister and a president. The president represents the country and has to sign off on every proposal that is brought to the people, though it is the prime minister who makes propositions to the Alliance as a whole. Lesser elected officials serve more local proposals, or send their proposals up the ladder. While the people of the alliance feel like they have a lot of personal freedom, the truth is that the alliance is largely made up of mega corporations that control most things. The government cannot enforce the people's decision to spend a certain amount of the nation's budget to build a new trade station in a certain sector, if a mega corporation basically ensures that there will simply be no one available to build it. The prime ministers and other politicians are therefor, truly speaking, lobbyists who figure out what IS possible to achieve, and in return for support to complete their own campaigns from the mega-corporations, they have to work in the interests of those same mega-corporations. Pretty much every politician operates on a similar basis in the Alliance. The president's utmost duty is to make sure that the prime minister, and other politicians, are truly acting in the interest of the nation. The president has a large police force working under him who constantly monitor the politicians, and while lobbyism isn't considered criminal activity, the president (or his people) has the option to place a sanction on a given proposal, making it permanently impossible to present it as it is. The politician has to go through a stringent system to change before it even qualifies to go back on the president's desk. It requires an enormous effort from a politician's side to have the president's decision brought into question, with a whole hoard of lawyers and an ethical jury having to go through the entire process. Unfortunately, the president also lives under the harsh reality that he has to work with the mega-corporations to have the nation achieve anything, and as such, the president is unlikely to block a proposal, just because it heavily favors one corporation over the other. Factions There are two large factions within the Alliance, though the factions are not official leagues within the Alliance, they are unofficially known as the democrats and the corporates. Democrats The Democrats are the nations within the Alliance that value and appreciate their direct democracy. They are strongly opposed lobbyism and mega-corporations, this despite many of them actually working for mega corporations. The Democatic nations are mostly agricultural worlds and industrial worlds where people either have a lot of space and literal freedom due to rural conditions, or where they feel the pressure and unpleasantness of the corporate society the most. In the big industrial worlds where people working for the corporations quite simply don't get set up with office jobs, such as factory work and mining work, they are naturally much more opposed to the big grand scheme of the corporations. The people of the democratic nations tend to favor spacial, rural or somewhat gated smaller settlements. Quite a few live in literal slums, due to the industrial worlds they live on simply offering nothing better. Others live in big projects or migrate back and forth between a truly industrial world and a home somewhere in a nice location. The Democratic people are often not particularly wealthy or as driven as their Corporate counter parts, though the majority of the Demoratic people do own their own property and means of transportation, how ever also making themselves directly responsible for keeping these functional. The educational standard is a great deal lower among the Democratic people. Life is far from as secure among the Democratic people, and they have to rely on large networks of families and friends to ensure their survival. Insurance companies and unions as a result are very big things in democratic territories. Hospitals and education is something that, more often that is convenient, the citizens of Democratic territories have to pay for out of pocket. As a direct result of this, military service is extremely important to them, as military service in the alliance grants free education in return and free healthcare for a number of years following discharge, often giving people what they need to get a good start in life. Having next to no trust in the government, the democratic nations maintain their own local militias and neighborhood watches. Practically everyone owns and carries weapons and the territories maintain the right to elect their own police commissioners and sheriffs, and the police forces within the territories are always independent of the government police, and are as distrusting of the government police as the people are. The militias operate as part of the joint military mandate of the country on a government sanction with support from the official military, and in most ways they mimic the military almost entirely, using even almost identical uniforms and rank structure, but they are entirely loyal to their local territory. The Democratic nations are known to highly value military service, and are somewhat patriotic. There are a lot of small businesses and franchise takers who run their businesses more or less independently in the democratic nations, namely as they try to oppose the grip of the big corporations though a degree of localization. The Democratic nations are also known to be represented by a number of wealthy benefactors who mostly make up their selection of politicians. These people either own large businesses that aren't big enough to be considered mega corporations yet (giving them ample reason to oppose their competition), own subsidiaries that are now owned (or controlled) by mega-corporations but still have a modicum of control due to permanent hereditary board-member status or simply from being a share holder in a mega corporation. These influential people work together to form much more influential political groups and parties, much like in a modern democracy. Many of these organizations are humanitarian, academical or ethical in nature, and the political parties largely have to gather the support of these organizations (including worker unions) to gain any sway with the people - not too different from how the politicians have to to gain support from the mega-corporations. Another thing that marks the Democratic territories as different from the corporate, is that religion is fairly widespread (as much as can be expected in an advanced futuristic society). There are at least a few powerful and strong religious communities, that while having no official power due to Commercium Sanctions, have great power in society regardless. While definitely making up the larger part of the alliance, population wise, the democrats are a little bit smaller than the Corporates. Corporates The Corporate territories are mainly urbanized planets and bureaucratic settlements that are administrative centers, as well as largely any location where the jobs are predominantly white-collar. The Mega-Corporations practically own their employers, as in these areas, there's often only Corporation owned private police, the local defense forces are hired mercenaries, the hospitals are privately owned and only accessible to corporate employees and both transportation and housing is often owned but provided by the corporation. Citizens of the corporate nations receive an abundance of luxuries through their positions, and are motivated to achieve more in their lives and more importantly; work harder, to achieve even more luxuries. Such luxuries include free access to sports and training facilities, cosmetic surgery and treatments, massage therapy and other kinds of body therapy, They are typically head-hunted from early schools or have to work their way into the companies through a severely competitive entry program, which is extremely corporate in nature. Those who work their way into the military do so because they earned a scholarship in their early educational years, often following military service, to a more expensive educational facility or because they paid for their education out of pocket. People in those situations often are very much in debt, and if they manage to get hired, the company often buys out their debt in return for a contract that binds them to work for the company for a number of years. Entry level employees receive limited free healthcare, often have access to free public transportation and modest, but accommodating free housing and a meager allowance. Their work hours seem unreasonable compared to the work hours of those higher up in the system, but if compared to the average democratic work hours, they are usually still lower. At this point, they are offered to retire into a facility when they reach retirement age and they set a a pathetic amount of money aside automatically to ensure that they at least have something to show for themselves at retirement age. At the very least, they are often very well insured, at least as long as they stay on corporate planets. If one was to get invalidated, they wouldn't have to work anymore, but they wouldn't live comfortably the rest of their lives either. They get a few days off every week and usually at least four weeks of vacation every year, not counting the odd day off that the company occasionally provides. They often save up a bit of money and have the option of taking unpaid vacation. Those who rise to middle-management positions often live in adequate homes, often have a company provided free vehicle and a moderate allowance, as well as full medical care, somewhat more favorable work hours and can retire into better communities with larger automatic sums set aside for them. Their insurance will even cover them on small vacations to approved locations. Invalidation would leave them with less than if they were still working, but enough to live out their days without having to cut corners to make ends meet. Vacation is more or less the same for middle-management as it is for entry level, but middle-management can expect to take paid time off, if they apply, for certain things such as childbirth, mourning periods and much more. Those who work in administration often have similar conditions as those who work middle-management. Those who rise to management positions can expect to live in nice homes and be provided free vehicle service, often a nice vehicle too. They have a generous allowance and their work hours are very reasonable. Their retirement options still limit them to retiring into certain communities, but they actually get to pick from a list and could even potentially afford to delay having to live there due to the amount of money that is set aside for them. Their insurance often covers them in the entire Alliance. They get more paid vacation, and after an can take time off for practically anything that seems conceivable as long as they do not overdo it. The benefits only get better from there, to the point where they seem almost unimaginable. The corporations essentially function as small oligarchies in their own right, and while life is mostly good for those who join, people are whipped forward in life, lulled into the illusion that by choosing to perform better, work harder and constantly over-achieve, they are optimizing their potential in life and will have great things coming their way, but the unpleasant truth is that they are largely speaking slaves. While the life of a corporation wage-slave is incredibly stable and secure with a lot of goods, they are rarely making their own decisions and constantly working towards the agenda of someone else, because they are lead to believe that this is how they optimize their own situation. The truth is that at least 60% never leave Entry Level, and very few people advance beyond middle-management. Advancing beyond management level is either a matter of nepotism, heritage or being extremely successful (which is often a matter of luck) or ridiculously talented at making them selves noticed. About 60% of the people who live in Corporate territories have a military background, the rest are either wealthy or indebted as a result of trying very hard to become head-hunted by the corporations. A notable few are of course just talented enough that they managed to get scholarships and were practically head-hunted before they even started their main education. Corporate territories provide a diverse urban setting, often with a lot of expensive and impressive aesthetically pleasing architecture. The setting often features a large number of bars, restaurants, nightclubs and activities. Those who do not work directly in the corporations usual white-collar hierarchy are referred to as "logistics", and they follow the same structure of advancement and terms offered as the main body of the corporations, but they are often hired without as extensive a hiring process and their advancement options are very limited with over 80% of them never advancing. They also have fewer offered luxuries available and their jobs are often considerably harder physically. History and Geography The Humanoid Systems-Alliance, simply referred to as "the Alliance" is a military and trade alliance between several humanoid territories (formerly independent sovereign nations). Interestingly, it's Capital is Zakuul - The original inhabitants of Zakuul were driven off planet by survivors of the rebellion against the Zakuul Empire, who came crashing down on the planet in great numbers at the time of the scream, armed and dangerous. The Humanoid Systems Alliance has forged a new existence for all humanoids on equal basis, in former Zakuul Space, stretching into the Outer Rim. The Alliance is made up of various larger nations, mostly divided by species, but recently, a number of colony worlds have declared themselves independent members of the Alliance. While the Alliance is humanoid, they have a number of alien protectorates - The Alien Systems Enclave is a faction within the Alliance, which represents the rights and demands of the Aliens, but they are generally overlooked and overheard - though much less so than in other intergalactic factions. Slavery, nobility and other forms of class division as well as religious rule are all prohibited inside the Alliance Systems. The Alliance has been at war with the Federation multiple times. The Alliance has a conscription system akin to the Federation, but doesn't keep conscripts for more than a few years - They do have a military reserve program that they enlist people into by granting free education and other benefits in return, as well as pay, and this has helped them maintain excellent planetary defenses - even though their actual space navy doesn't even compare to those of other intergalactic nations.